On Tuesday, Feb. 25 farmers and non-farmers interested in the agricultural industry, gathered at the Ramada Hotel in Carlyle, where they were given some insight on a multitude of topics on areas of importance to the agriculture industry. Meyers Norris Penny, Western Ag and RBC gave presentations on management, farm practices and economic challenges that are constants in the agriculture industry.
Sean Taylor of MNP’s Regina’s office, spoke on farm profitability. He broke it into three categories; Farm Profit Analysis, using Benchmarking to Make Improvements and Managing Risks.
1. Farm Profits are directly related to weather, markets, crop selection and management execution. For the individual farmer this comes down to balancing what you can control (labour and machinery costs) against what there is no way to manage (weather, world markets).
2. Benchmarking is the relationship of one producer’s costs and profits and how they compare to other farms. This can identify ways to be more profitable by seeing similar practices of top producers.
3. Risk Management covered the roll of insurance, as well as other factors, namely good accounting and where the business is financially tracking, will create stability and sustainability.
Western Ag’s presentation was by Edgar Hammermeister, who is the Manager of Professional Agronomy for Southeast Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The presentation identified the effects of crop planning and inputs and how this planning can enhance the bottom line. More specifically the importance of a “balanced diet” for the plant, crop selection and rotation, the relationship more rain can have to the availability of nutrients in the soil, the amount and type of fertilizer, all of which affect the bottom line. Over fertilization can actually increase disease as well as cause lodging and loss of yield.
The business of farming requires a fine balance between simple logistics and optimizing yields. Making things too simple also can leave a lot of dollars on the table.
RBC presented Farmer 4.0, which is a research study regarding the sustainability of farming explaining how the coming skills revolution can transform agriculture. The agricultural industry has gone through three major changes to become the industry it is today and will see another as farmers move towards advanced technologies, using drones and automation.
Giving the presentation was Angie Turpie, Lea Warkentin, Anita Keys, Dawson Switzer and Matt Shirky. They covered the aging farm population, the need for new labour, identifying the need to import machinery, as the greater percentage of equipment used on Canadian farms is manufactured outside Canada.
Canadian agriculture is well positioned to lead farm production in the future.
